There are some weeks where I struggle to come up with a good idea for a column. But then there are those weeks where I could seriously write a column every day.
Last week would fall into the latter category. There was literally a big news story breaking every single day — so, dear reader, please allow me to take a few minutes of your precious Sunday and share my opinion on a few things that filled your Kinston Daily Free Press last week.
B.J. MURPHY’S DECISION NOT TO RUN FOR RE-ELECTION : The most surprising news to hit Kinston in 2013 came Tuesday morning when Kinston’s young mayor, B.J. Murphy, announced he was not going to run for re-election in November.
To many — myself included — it was a foregone conclusion the 32-year-old, considered an up-and-comer by statewide Republicans, would run for the office he initially won in an upset in 2009.
However, citing familial obligations and potentially preparing for a future race for another office, Murphy decided against running for mayor this year.
Like everyone else, I was surprised. One thing I’ve discovered about the young mayor is he’s not afraid of a fight — and November was shaping up to be a slobberknocker between him and whoever the local Democratic Party was going to send against him. I know there was a part of him that was relishing the opportunity to prove 2009 wasn’t a fluke.
Now, it won’t happen, which leads to the next logical question: who is going to run for mayor? Names I’ve heard bandied about include current city councilman, Joe Tyson — although he told me unequivocally he is not interested in the position. Although he said the thing about running for another term on the council the last time around and ultimately ran again, I believe him. Tyson is one of the smartest men in this town and he knows he has more power on the council than he does as the mayor.
Danny Rice is another potential candidate; the energetic sparkplug behind the successful Woodmen Community Center coming to Kinston is universally admired. He’s retired and has a genuine love and affection for this community and would be a formidable candidate.
I’ve heard Kinston City Councilman Robby Swinson’s name bandied about as a potential candidate, too; but with his own young family, a successful business to run and health issues (he’s still recovering from a heart attack in late 2012), I doubt he’ll run for mayor — although he’s a virtual lock if he decides to run for his council seat again.
Other names out there in the ether include retired Kinston Department of Public Safety Director Greg Smith, Lenoir-Greene United Way Director June Cummings, former councilman Jimmy Cousins and Platinum Club owner Tharol Branch. All would be solid candidates for the position.
Regardless of who is the next mayor of Kinston, Murphy has earned respect for the job he’s done — turning a position that was almost entirely ceremonial into a true advocate for Kinston and its people. I’m interested to see what happens in the next chapter of his political career.
Murphy joined Jon Dawson and I on last week’s Free Press Radio Show to discuss his decision, his future and his thoughts on potential successors, among many other topics. You can listen to the show by going to Kinston.com, scrolling down to the Web Exclusives tab and then clicking on the link.
Which leads us to …
BOARD OF ELECTIONS SEEKS TO OUST DANA KING : One of the subjects we discussed with Murphy on The Free Press Radio Show was the Lenoir County Board of Elections attempt to oust its director, Dana King. On our show, Murphy was adamant that he thought the move was a vendetta against King.
Of the current three-person board of Chairman Sharon Kanter, Secretary Oscar Herring and Kim Allison, Murphy said, “(The current board has) had it out for (King) since Day 1.”
I’ve read the 106-page petition the board sent to N.C. Board of Elections Executive Director Gary Bartlett … and it’s pretty damning, if the allegations included in it are true. You can view the petition online here: co.lenoir.nc.us/documents/BOE01222013-Redacted.pdf.
I know this much — since assuming the managing editor role of The Free Press in June 2008, I’ve dealt with King and her office on dozens of occasions. She has always — and I mean ALWAYS — been readily accessible to me, my reporters and my photographers.
We’ve surprised her at the last minute on multiple occasions with story and photo requests of her and her workers and she’s complied 100 percent. When I or a reporter has needed to talk to her about a story, if she doesn’t answer the phone immediately, she calls back as soon as possible.
Dana King has always been a consummate professional in her dealings with The Free Press.
After Murphy’s story appeared online at Kinston.com, I — along with Jon Dawson and Christina Alphin (Murphy’s secretary) received an email from Kanter. In it (which you can view at my blog at bhanks.encblogs.com/?p=8115), Kanter (along with Herring and Allison) take issue with Murphy’s stance on our show.
Among other items, the letter to Murphy states, “The rumors are wrong. Contrary to their — and your — stated perception, this Board has not been ‘out to get’ the Elections Director, from ‘Day 1’ or at any time since then.”
After receiving the email, I forwarded it to Free Press Publisher and Editor Patrick Holmes (my boss and “the buck stops here” guy at your paper) and asked him if we could run it as a letter to the editor. He said we couldn’t since we don’t run letters to the editor addressed to a third party (in this case, to Murphy). However, I was instructed that if Kanter rewrote the letter and addressed it to the editor, we would consider it for publication in The Free Press.
I decided to run the email in its entirety on my blog; the letter was from a public board to a mayor and nowhere in the letter did it say “Top Secret,” “For Your Eyes Only,” “Off the Record” or the like.
Additionally, the email was sent to a managing editor of a newspaper and a columnist (Dawson), along with Alphin.
Not long after I posted the letter on my blog, I received a scathing email from Kanter — who I’ve never personally met, to the best of my knowledge — in which she questioned my “journalistic training and/or integrity,” among other blasts.
We had a couple of heated email exchanges back and forth, but the crux of the situation is this common sense note: If you send an email or letter to a reporter, editor, photographer or columnist of a newspaper, you are granting implicit permission to publish the content of that email or letter in the newspaper or online UNLESS you clearly state you don’t want it published.
When Kanter emailed me the original letter to Murphy, there were no conditions placed on that letter. It was a letter to the mayor and sent to Murphy’s secretary, to me and to Dawson. Later, she decided she didn’t want it for public viewing and when I refused to pull it from my blog, that’s when she began to question my training and/or integrity.
This brings us back to the original issue — the BOE’s attempt to remove King as director. As stated above, I’ve never had an iota of concern with her performance; she’s literally bent over backwards to accommodate your Free Press and your Constitutional right to know what is going on with her department in the pages of your local newspaper.
I’ve peripherally known Herring for a long time and found him to be a man of high character. I became acquainted with Allison a little bit last year when she ran unsuccessfully for the county clerk’s office and, like Herring, found her to be of high character.
But for a person who doesn’t personally know me — Kanter — to question my character (she accused me in her final email exchange that I’m attempting to “advance my political cred”) is, for lack of a better word, ridiculous.
Dana King might lose her job and if she does, it’s a serious loss for our county. But after initial contact with one of the people trying to fire her, it makes King’s case for staying on the job that much stronger to me.
GRAHAM ATTEMPTING TO TAX FROM RALEIGH : In 2008 and 2012, the voters of Lenoir County clearly stated they do not want a 1/4-cent sales tax, the last time in an overwhelming 2-to-1 vote.
Evidently, freshman N.C. Rep. George Graham, the longtime Democratic Lenoir County Commission chairman didn’t get that message. He proposed a bill Thursday giving the Lenoir County Board of Commissioners the ability to put that 1/4-cent sales tax in place without a public vote — if the commissioners decide to do so.
Some factors are in play here, though; first, with a Republican super-majority in the House, I have more of a chance of becoming America’s Next Top Model than this bill does of even getting out of committee.
Secondly, the county commissioners are not dumb enough to enact this power if it is given to them. When every single precinct in Lenoir County rejected it last year, that should have been a clear enough signal to Graham or anyone that citizens here don’t want it.
In the interest of full disclosure, I really didn’t have a problem with the proposed 1/4-cent sales tax — there is no fairer tax than one in which everyone who purchases goods has to pay the same thing. Without the money that tax would have generated, property taxes are probably going to go up and no one wants that.
But it’s a little shady to go against the will of your electorate and propose a tax bill they overwhelmingly rejected. Let’s hope Graham’s next bill proposal is one his electorate supports.
Bryan C. Hanks is the managing editor of The Free Press and his column appears in this space every Sunday. You can reach him at 252-559-1074 or at Bryan.Hanks@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at BCHanks.